Posts by Kolby

I’m really happy how this project is turning out. Taking time to make each hike’s number using materials found on the hike has caused me to concentrate more on looking at my surroundings as I hike. I try to select a material that 1) is abundant and 2) won’t affect the ecology or aesthetics of the area. I love nature, but I don’t want to love it to death. If I’m using living flora, I prune the plant and not pick it outright. Here’s a few stories of the behind-the-scenes of numbers 11-20.
Hike #11 – Shevlin Park, Bend, OR - I found a patch of...

While spending a week in Los Angeles for the private screening of Mile… Mile & A Half, a documentary about the John Muir Trail that I worked on, I had a chance to go hiking on one of my favorite trails of the Los Angeles area: Mishe Mokwa Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. I really enjoy this trail for all that it offers, even if the views of the valleys and the ocean are hidden behind a marine layer. Six miles of beauty that only the Santa Monica Mountains can offer.
Jason Fitzgerald, co-director and director of photography of the documentary, was kind enough to join me on the...

I was invited down to Los Angeles for the private screening of the documentary I worked on, Mile… Mile & a Half. While there for a few days, I had the opportunity to do two hikes. This was the first of the two.
I lived in Southern California for decades, long enough to know first hand many of the fine trails SoCal has to offer, and long enough to know that there’s always a new trail to discover. Ric Serena, Co-Director and DP of the film, invited me to the trail near his house in Burbank that he frequents: Stough Canyon.
My first thought on the trail was,...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the hardest part of a day hike is finding the motivation to get to the trailhead. For this hike, it took me a good part of the day to find enough motivation to drive north to Smith Rock State Park near Terrebonne, Oregon. Once I was there, I raced the sun to hike as much of the 10+ miles of trails the park offers. I parked at the “turn around parking area” at 4:30pm and headed down to the Crooked River via the Homestead Trail. I’ve found that access to the river from this trailhead is a lot less crowded than by taking...

As I returned to my car after this hike, I was soaked to the bone. In fact, everything I carried with me was wet. The pages of my journal were rippling, my camera had fogged the lens with condensation and stopped working.* My iPhone wasn’t doing well either, having been used to take photos after my camera’s untimely death. It abruptly shut off. So why was it that I was beaming a toothy smile?
When I go on a hike, I hope to have at least one magical moment: that fleeting few seconds or minutes when I connect with the nature around me. It could be as simple as a hoot from an owl...